In the biodiversity management, three eco-tourism destination sites were developed in Satkosia, Bhitarakaniaka and Similipal. Community reserves and heritage sites were developed in five places. Bichitrapur mangrove area near Jaleswar, Rissia wildlife sanctuary in Baleswar wildlife division, Mandasaur in Phulbani forest division, Khasada waterfall, Black Pepper plantations, Gandahati waterfall and Red Sanders plantations in Paralakhemindi Forest Division were taken up for development as new eco-tourism destinations.

… "The Ministry of shipping and highways has more or less agreed to bear 50 per cent of the cost of road and rail connectivity for the minor ports proposed in the state. The ministry had asked us to submit cost estimates for the same and accordingly, we had submitted Rs 1200-crore plan for offering road and rail connectivity for the upcoming minor ports", an official source told Business Standard.

According to the proposal, the cost of rail and road connectivity for the minor ports would be shared equally between the Centre and the port developers.

… Among the 14 locations identified by the state government for the development of ports are Dhamara, Jatadhari Muhan, Barunei Muhan, Astaranga, Bichitrapur, Chudamani and Kirtania to name a few.

The state government had already inked concession agreements with the developers for the development of ports at Dhamara, Gopalpur and Kirtania.

The Orissa government has also signed MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Private Ltd and Aditya Birla Group for setting up of ports at Astaranga and Chudamani respectively.

Orissa has witnessed grounding of investment of Rs 4,262.44 crore from non-major ports in the past 10 years.

The investments have made four minor port developers- Dhamara Port Company Ltd (DPCL), Gopalpur Port Ltd (GPL), Creative Port Development Ltd and Navayug Engineering Ltd from 2002-03 up to the end of September this year. …

DPCL, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and L&T, is the biggest investor, with its investment till the second quarter of 2011-12 standing at Rs 3,570.35 crore.

The port developer, who has already begun operations, has invested Rs 762.79 crore, Rs 1,088.26 crore and Rs 1,059.40 crore in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively. In 2011-12, DPCL has invested Rs 60.45 crore till the end of September.

Gopalpur Port Ltd (GPL), a special purpose vehicle promoted jointly by Orissa Stevedores Ltd and Sara International Limited (SIL) has invested Rs 421.09 crore during 2007-08 to September-end of 2011-12. The port developer which is developing the seasonal port at Gopalpur into an all-weather port, has invested Rs 51.09 crore in 2007-08, Rs 30 crore in 2008-09, Rs 50 crore in 2009-10, Rs 40 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 250 crore in this fiscal (till September-end).

The state government has asked the port promoters to commission second phase of the port operations by March 2013. GPL has already claimed to have achieved financial closure of Rs 1,400 crore for the first stage of Phase-II of the deep sea port with the signing of loan agreement with a consortium of 11 banks.

The port at Subarnarekha river mouth, proposed by Chennai-based Creative Port Development, has seen investment of Rs 221 crore.

Creative Port Development had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government on December 18, 2006 for setting up a port with an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) which was to be scaled up to 40 mtpa in 10 years.

The port developer had also entered into a concession agreement with the state government on January 11, 2008. As per this agreement, the port developer would share revenue with the state government at the rate of five per cent from first to fifth year, eight per cent from sixth to 10th year, 10 per cent from 11th to 15th year and 12 per cent for the remaining 15 years.

The port at Astaranga in Puri district has witnessed an investment of Rs 50 crore over the past four years.

The port project is being taken up at a cost of Rs 6,500 crore. The initial capacity of the port will be 25 mtpa which will be eventually scaled up to 70 mtpa. The state government had entered into an MoU with Hyderabad-based Navyug Engineering Ltd on December 22, 2008.

The project proponent had signed a concession agreement with the state government in November 2010.

As we will show below SER, without a proper representation in Odisha, has badly messed up in Odisha.

SER has neglected stations in Odisha. In particular, it has neglected Rourkela, the second largest metropolitan area of Odisha in many ways. For example, Rourkela is not in the list of world-class stations.

How has SER messed up in Odisha?

The Rupsa-Bangiriposi conversion to broad gauge has been messed up badly. See page 8-9 of 2006-may-CAG report.

Alignment of Jaleswar – Digha line.

The dangling lines

etc.

Having made the point that SER needs to have a division HQ in Odisha, the best location for such a division HQ would be Rourkela. It would of course need a reorganization of the current division break-up. Below we will give some suggestions on a possible reorganization.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) on Wednesday proposed setting up of 16 new clusters on public-private partnership [PPP] in Orissa each accommodating about 1000 units and providing direct and indirect employment close to 4 lakh people.

Releasing the ASSOCHAM study on "Cluster Development for Inclusive Growth in Orissa" National Secretary General, D. S. Rawat said, "The total funds required for basic and essential infrastructure to these clusters will be about Rs. 480 crores. Once functional, it will contribute additional 10% revenues per annum to the exchequer, help in inclusive growth and simultaneously lead to upgradation of existing clusters.

The MSME sector contributes around 40% to GDP with an estimated value of goods and services around Rs. 20 lakh crore in 2009-10. The sector is estimated to employ about 5.9 crore people in over 2.6 crore units in the country and has consistently registered a higher growth rate than the rest of the industrial sector. There are over 6000 products ranging from traditional to high-tech items, which are being manufactured by the MSMEs in India.

Everest Industries said it would set up a Greenfield project in Orissa with an investment of INR 50 crore, which will help it to achieve a total turnover of INR 1,300 crore in the next two years.

Spread over 20 acres of land, the new plant, which will be the company’s sixth facility, would have a total capacity of 180,000 tonne of fiber cement and steel fabrication.

Mr Manish Garg president told reporters that “The new plant will involve an investment of INR 50 crore and it will come up at Balasore in Orissa and will be commissioned in next 15 to 16 months time.’

Everest Industries is now eyeing pre-engineered buildings segments in a big way in the field of automobile and warehousing sectors. He said that “We are aiming to generate a business of INR 200 crore from pre engineered buildings segment after focusing on warehousing and industrial segment.’

The company, which clocked sales of INR 650 crore in last fiscal, is aiming to grow to INR 1,300 crore by 2012—13 after the new plant starts at Orissa.
Mr Garg said that “By the end of next fiscal, our sales will reach INR 1,000 crore and thereafter it will move to INR 1300 crore.”

… the single-window clearance committee of the state government, cleared five proposals worth Rs 1,340 crore. Industries secretary T. Ramchandru said that Orissa-based Konark Kranti Energy would set up a petroleum complex at Paradip and a petroleum storage facility at Dhamra port. “The company will invest Rs 300 crore,” he said.

Britania Industries Limited would also set up a plant at Khurda with an investment of Rs 51 crore.

Around 700 people will be employed by the firm. Everest Industry would set up a corrugated asbestos plant at Somanthpur in Balasore with an investment of Rs 69 crore, Chariot Steel and Power would expand its cement plant at Sundergarh and invest Rs 320 crore while Nababharat Ventures Limited would set up a power plant with an investment of Rs 600 crore, he added.

… Balasore, which has around 70 per cent of the State’s plastic units, would soon turn into a plastic industry hub with this training centre while a plastic park is also in the offing and the work under the Industrial Up-gradation Scheme is in progress. Jena informed that Balasore is very strategically located between two upcoming Petrochemical Investment Regions at Nayachar, Haldia, and Paradip. There is potential for Balasore to be the hub of Plastics Industrial Corridor stretching on the East Coast of India.

Establishment of the APPTC at Balasore would act as a catalyst to stimulate growth of plastic industries in general and plastics processing industries in particular, he said. He said cooperation between the Centre and State is required for development.

State’s Minister of Industries and Steel and Mines Raghunath Mohanty said the APPTC’s intake for this year would be 150 and 100, respectively, for skilled and short-term courses while the full-fledged intake would be 480. The APPTC is being established by the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) on an area of 8 acres of land allotted by the State Government at a cost of `15 crore, which is being shared equally by the Central and State Governments.

Union Secretary of Chemicals & Petrochemicals M Raman informed that a proposal of the State Government to set up a PCPIR at Paradip has been recommended by the high-powered committee and its final approval is expected shortly. The total employment generation from the OPCPIR is expected to be about 6,48,000 persons, comprising of direct employment to 2.27 lakh and indirect employment to 4.21 lakh.

Balasore should also try to take advantage of its proximity to IIT Kharagpur.

Source said, the centre may come up at Baliapal, nearly 30 km from Balasore, where government buildings built at the cost of Rs 4.5 crore during the late 80s are lying unutilised. Last year an experts’ team from CIPET had visited the spot and submited a report to the government. The infrastructure has been built on around 150 acres of land under the rehabilitation package during the proposed National Test Range (NTR) which was stalled in 1992 due to vehement opposition.

Plastics have become the key drivers of innovation and application development. Plastics processing or product manufacturing industries is evincing increased competition worldwide due to globalization of the plastics trade. In the prevailing scenario of liberalization, an obvious preference goes to global supplier, who can deliver the qualitative products at any location within stipulated time frame across the globe. Due to globalization of trade and cost pressure, plastics industry in Indian context is looking forward to exploit the opportunities available in the export as well as domestic market. This would facilitate establishment of large-scale production facilities and processing plants to cater to the requirements of user industry.

Around 70% of the plastics industries of Orissa are situated in and around Balasore. It is also envisioned that during the end of XI Five Year Plan, around 100 more plastics processing industries are expected to be established. Establishment of Plastic Park and the upcoming Plastics Processing Industries in and around Balasore will boost the requirement of well trained technical manpower for the Plastics Industry.

The raw materials availability for the plastic industries in Balasore can further be increased to ensure sustainable development as one petrochemical complex is coming up at Paradeep (to be developed by IOC).

Balasore is also an industrially developed district, two sea ports are coming up near Dhamra and Chudamani. With the constant efforts of the local Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Srikant Kumar Jena, it has been decided to set up an Advanced Plastic Processing Technology Centre (APPTC) at Balasore to meet the increasing requirements of the trained technical manpower for the plastic industry. Establishing APPTC – a Unit of CIPET Bhubaneswar will not only result in fulfilling the requirement of additional skilled Technical Manpower in the area of Plastics Processing but also will facilitate in rendering the Technology Support Services.

APPTC will fill up the demand & supply gap of skilled manpower of the processing industry in the Eastern region of the country by conducting long-term & short-term training programs in the areas of Plastics Processing Technologies.

The Planning Commission has approved the establishment of APPTC in Balasore at a total project cost of Rs.1500 lacs. CIPET Corporate at Chennai would be the Apex Body directing and controlling the project activities as per the directives of Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Government of India. The State Government of Odisha has also agreed to share 50% of its cost and provide land for setting up of APPTC at Balasore.

Benefits of Establishing the APPTC at Balasore:

• During the first year of its establishment, the centre is expected to train & develop around 150 students in the field of plastic processing through long-term academic programmes and around 100 participants through short duration training programmes in the areas of plastic processing technology.

• Once the APPTC become full-fledged, the total intake of the students for long term courses will be 480 for three long term courses. In addition, the APPTC will also train 250 technical personnel from plastic industry every year through short term technology upgradation programmes.

• The APPTC centre at Balasore will also play a catalytic role in providing technology support services to the plastic & allied industries in around Balasore where a Plastic Park is being planned. Further, it is expected that more than 150 plastics processing / allied industries are likely to be started. This will boost the skilled manpower requirement in the area of plastics processing. In addition, as Balasore is well connected with other parts of the State and also the neighbouring States, the industries located at these places will also utilize the services of Balasore Plastics Park.

The dream of establishing a dedicated specialized centre on “Advanced Plastic Processing Technology Centre – (APPTC)” at Balasore, Orissa – a unit of CIPET, Bhubaneswar at Balasore has become a reality mainly on account of constant persuasion and sustained efforts made by Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers.

DNM/PKM

This is good. But the publicity is somewhat disproportional with respect to only a 15 crore project out of which the state is responsible for 50%. Other central ministers get much more for their states. Some recent examples are:

Mamata Banerjee’s gifts to W. Bengal with respect to Railways and metro.

W. Bengal minister’s support to get approval of 500+ crores for converting BESU to IIEST.

Recent attempts by Pranab Mukherjee to get 500 crores for IIT Kharagpur expansion.

Orissa has continued its growth momentum as a favourite destination for investors attracting investments worth Rs 98,929.49 crore in the April-June period of this fiscal. The most of these new investment proposals are in sectors like power, steel, cement, food processing and downstream industries.

The single largest investment proposal of Rs 45,000 crore has come from Strategic Energy Technology Systems Pvt Ltd for a coal to liquid project at Angul on May 12, 2010.

The bulk of the investments- Rs 33,569.25 crore has been proposed in the power sector with proposals for setting up of Independent Power Plants (IPPs) with a cumulative capacity of 7740 MW.

Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) Power Limited has proposed to set up a 270 MW (2×135) coal-based thermal power plant at Haridaspur in Jajpur district. Similarly, KU Projects intends to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Thakurpur in Sonepur district at an investment of Rs 7260 crore. This project has been cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) of the state government.

Similarly, Shivani Thermal Power Station of Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) has proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Chhotapadagan in Cuttack district at a cost of Rs 7554.54 crore.

Visa Power has submitted a revised proposal to the state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Brahmanabasta in Cuttack district, entailing an investment of Rs 6319.48 crore.

Shri Anant Infra Energy Pvt Limited has evinced interest to set up a 210 MW coal-based power plant at Garjan Bahal in Sundergarh district.

Responsive Industries Ltd has proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Manmunda in Boud district at a cost of Rs 6487.50 crore.

CLP Power India Pvt Ltd plans to set up a 1980 (3×660) MW power plant at Majhapada in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

Among the investment proposals in the cement sector, Kolkata-based Icore Super cement Ltd has proposed to set up a cement plant at Somnathpur in Balasore district at an investment of Rs 151 crore.

While Ramco Industries Limited has evinced interest to set up a 120,000 tonnes per annum asbestos fibre cement sheet plant at Jharsuguda at a cost of Rs 35 crore, Madras Cement intends to set up a 4000 tonne per day cement plant at Nandibera in Malkangiri district at a cost of Rs 750 crore.

Reliance Cementation Ltd has submitted proposal for a 2.8 million tonne per annum cement plant at Jallangbara in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 970 crore.

Similarly, Binani Cement plans to set up a one million tonne per annum clinker grinding unit at Dhamara in Bhadrak district at a cost of Rs 130 crore.

In the steel sector, Rashmi Metalliks Limited has proposed to set up a three million tonne per annum pelletisation plant and 44 m captive power plant at Baliarpur in Bhadrak district at an investment of Rs 3465 crore.

The Orissa Minerals Development Company Limited has evinced interest for a two million tonne per annum beneficiation and pelletisation plant at Dalki in Keonjhar district at a cost of Rs 889 .

Following are reports from Samaja and Dharitri. It says land has been selected in the Choumukh panchayat. The port, which was earlier referred to as Kirtania port, is now referred to as Subarnarekha port. The Samaja article mentions that for the port connectivity there will be a two lane road and rail lines between Haldipada and Choumukh. The Daharitri article mentions the rail points as Rupsa and Jaleswar. Both articles say that if things go as planned the port should be operational by 2014. This port is being made by Creative Ports of Chennai.

Kolkata-based Icore Group with interests in steel making, cement, gems and jewellery apparel and paints, would invest Rs 5,000 crore in Orissa setting up a 1.8 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant and a cement crushing unit with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes per day.

The integrated steel cum cement complex would come up on 80 acres of land at Somanthpur in Balasore district. …

… Initially, Icore will start its steel plant operations with a capacity of 0.36 mtpa at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore and later scale up to 1.8 mtpa. While the cement crushing unit is set to commence operations from December 2010, the steel plant is expected to be operational by March next year.

The state promises 2.224 billion tonne of limestone deposits. Moreover, Orissa is going to generate huge quantity of blast furnace slag and fly ash as a large number of steel units and coal-fired power plants are coming up in the state.

Madras Cements, which is known for its popular Ramco brand, is proposing to set up two cement projects in the district of Sundergarh and Malkangiri of the state. While it is planning a 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) plant along with a 40 mw captive power station at a cost of Rs 750 crore in Sundergarh, in Malkangiri it is going to set up a 2 MTPA unit along with a 35 mw power station at a cost of Rs 700 crore.

Madras Cements is also going to invest Rs 35 crore to set up a cement fibre sheet plant in Sundergarh district.

Shree Cement, which is known for its Bangur brand, is planning to set up a 3 MTPA unit and a 50 mw power plant at a cost of Rs 683 crore in Malkangiri district.

ACC Cement, which acquired the Bargarh Cement Plant of the Orissa government in 2004, intends to set up a 3 MTPA cement plant and a 50 mw power plant at a cost of Rs 1,850 crore in Malkangiri.

The Kolkata-based Emami Group is proposing to invest Rs 179 crore to set up a 0.6 MTPA cement grinding facility at Somnathpur in Balasore district. The group has a newsprint manufacturing unit at Balgopalpur in Balasore district.

Earlier, the government signed three MoUs in the cement sector. Grasim Cement of the Birla Group signed an MoU in 2006 to set up a 0.90 MTPA cement plant in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore, while ASCO Cement is putting up a 0.50 MTPA unit at a cost of Rs 132 crore at Rajgangpur in Jharsuguda district.

OCL India, which already has a ement unit in the state, is setting up another unit in Sundergarh district with an investment of Rs 850 crore.

In 20 years (i.e., in 2030) the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda population would be around 4 million plus. In addition the area would be surrounded by the following cities/towns within 150 kms radius (i.e., about a hour and half away).

Berhampur-Gopalpur to the south (with a then population of 1.5 million; about 145 kms away)

Puri to the south (with a then population of 700K; only 30kms away)

Kalinganagar to the North (with a then population of 500K; only 50 kms away)

Talcher-Angul to the West (with a then population of 500K; only 110 kms away)

Dhenkanal to the west (with a then population of 200K and almost in the periphery)

Paradip to the east (with a then population of 400K and 90 kms away)

Dhamara-Chandbali to the Northeast (with a then population of 200K and 140 kms away)

Bhadrak to the North (with a then population of 200K and 140 kms away)

A little farther is

Balasore-Chandipur to the North (with a then population of 300K and 162 kms away from the Northern end of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda area)

In addition there will be several port towns other than the ones mentioned above and a few smaller towns (For example, Nayagarh) within 200km radius of greater Bhubaneswar.

Besides individual CDPs for these areas the Odisha governement should start making plans for this larger overall area. It would form a different kind of megalopolis than New Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata with a well planned hub (Bhubaneswar) surrounded by mini-hubs and with rural areas in between. I can not off-hand think of another such area in the world; may be the readers can point me to some. Please suggest what kind of plans need to be made. (Please note that for something to be up and running in 20 years, plans need to be made now.) For example:

Commuter trains at frequent intervals and the necessary infrastructure for that. Following are some of the segments

Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark-Astaranga (Puri-Konark-Astaranga needs to be built; alternatively if Astaranga port comes up, then there may be a new line from Barang to Astaranga)

Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Gopalpur (Berhampur-Gopalpur needs to be built)

Bhubaneswar-Jajpur Rd(Kalinganagar)-Bhadrak-Dhamara (Bhadrak-Dhamara is ready but no trains yet)

Bhubaneswar-Jajpur Rd(Kalinganagar)-Bhadrak-Balasore-Baripada

Bhubaneswar-Jakhapura(Kalinganagar)-Tomka (on the line to Kendujhargarh)

Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Paradeep (ready)

Bhubaneswar-Dhenkanal-Talcher-Angul (ready)

Bhubaneswar-Khurda-Nayagarh and beyond (being constructed; part of Khurda-Balangir)

The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) today cleared nine new investment proposals worth Rs 4920.26 crore. Out of these, five are in the cement sector, two aluminium conductor units, a maize processing unit and a petroleum coke plant.

Out of the five new cement projects, two are of Madras Cement which will set up its units at Sundergarh and Malkangiri.

The company’s Sundargarh plant will have two million tonne per annum (mtpa) cement capacity along with 40 MW of captive power generation facility. The project is estimated to cost Rs 750 crore. Madras Cement, known for its Ramko brand of cement, will also have a cement fibre sheet plant at the same location at an investment of Rs 35 crore.

The company’s second cement unit in the state, also with a capacity of two mtpa, will come up at Malkanagiri. It will have a 36 MW Captive Power Plant and the combined cost of the project is pegged at Rs 700 crore.

Apart from Madras Cement, Ajmer-based Shree Cement, known for its Bangur brand of cement, has proposed to set up a three mtpa cement unit and a 36 MW CPP, also at Malkangiri, at an investment of Rs 683 crore.

ACC Cement intends to set up a three mtpa cement unit and a 50 MW CPP at Malkangiri, involving an investment of Rs 1850 crore.

Similarly, Emami Group which has a newsprint making plant at Balgopalpur in Balasore district will invest Rs 179 crore at Somnathpur in the same district for setting up a 0.6 mtpa cement grinding unit.

… Among the other investment proposals cleared by SLSWCA is the Seashore Group’s plan to set up a maize processing unit at Papdahandi block in Nabarangpur district at a cost of Rs 160 crore. The facility will come up on 123 acres of land and will require two lakh litres of water per day. The project will create 96 direct jobs besides creating indirect employment opportunity for around 6000 people.

Sterlite Technologies Ltd, a Vedanta Group firm, will invest Rs 51.26 crore on establishing an aluminium conductor plant as well as an aluminium alloy rod unit at Brundamal near Jharsuguda. This plant will be a downstream unit of the company’s existing aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda.

Kalinga Calciners has proposed to set up petroleum coke plant near Paradeep at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The plant will have an overall capacity of 2,20,000 tonnes per annum which will be achieved in two phases.

The SLSWCA also cleared the proposal of Hindustan Vidyut Products Ltd which has evinced interest in setting up an aluminium conductor plant at Jharsuguda, entailing an investment of Rs 389 crore. This project which will come up on 75 acres of land will create direct employment for 153 people and creating indirect jobs for around 400 others.

Its good to see that some of the above units are proposed for remote backward districts such as Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.

Jindal Infrastructure Limited, a JSW Group Company, which proposed to up a Rs 2238-crore captive deep sea port at Bichitrapur in Orissa’s Balsore district, has targeted to achieve a cargo throughput of 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa) in the first phase.

The company will invest Rs 550 crore in the first phase which is scheduled for commissioning by 2013. The port’s cargo handling is projected to reach 20 mtpa in the second phase to be operational by 2013 and 45 mtpa by 2020.

JSW Infrastructure will invest Rs 750 crore and Rs 938 crore in the second phase and third phase respectively.

Out of the total investment of Rs 2238 crore, JSW will invest Rs 230 crore on land development, Rs 243 crore on berths, Rs 120 crore on breakwaters and embankments, Rs 900 crore on dredging and Rs 366 crore on handling equipment.

Besides, Rs 150 crore will be invested on railway and road network while Rs 69 crore is earmarked for buildings and workshops.

As per the land use plan of the project, the port back-up area including approaches will be 3500 acres, out of which 2500 acres will be developed through reclamation using dredged material and the balance 1000 acres will be provided by the state government.

… JSW has assured to develop the port at Bichitrapur as per the amended CRZ (Coastal Regulatory Zone) norms.

The company will prepare the Environment Management Plan for the project.

The port will be located at a distance of 35 km from the rail link, 30 km from the nearest National Highway (NH-60) and seven km from the nearest state highway (SH-4).

JSW’s port will have a multiplier effect as it will encourage port-based industries like apparel parks, forging industry, leather industry as well as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries.

Barrages
To maintain LAD of 2 m in the Brahmani river all through the year, 5 barrages with height equal to the highest flood level are proposed to be constructed at every 26 km between Talcher and Jokadia. Each barrage will have a navigational lock to allow passage of two 500 tonne vessels at a time.

Cargo potential
Coal from Talcher to Dhamra and Paradip ports is the most important potential cargo for this waterway. Immediately after the development of the waterway, it is estimated in the DPR that about 11 million tonne of cargo can be transported per year which can go up to 23 million tonne in next 15 years or so.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Bishnu Das.

To meet the infrastructure needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on a priority basis, the Orissa government has reserved 20 per cent of the area in all industrial estates, industrial parks, industrial corridors and land banks for such units.

Further, the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) will promote new exclusive zones for MSMEs in all major industrial hubs of the state.

Such exclusive zones will also come up near the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state.

… The government has also decided that wherever land is provided to large and medium industries, 10 per cent of the land, subject to a maximum limit of 200 acres, will be earmarked for setting up MSMEs. This will facilitate the setting up of ancillary and downstream units, preferably in cluster mode, a source added.

… Sources said that Common Facility Centres (CFCs), to be set up by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) constituted for the MSME clusters, would be entitled for allotment of land free of cost at various locations in the state.

… To provide assured sources of raw material for such units, the Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) and the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) will set up raw material banks.

The two organisations will act as nodal agencies for MSMEs and public sector resource companies will accord priority to OSIC and NSIC in supply of raw materials, which will be made available to MSMEs at the lowest possible rate.

Orissa government will provide four terminal market yards to enable the farmers to sell their produce at market prices…. One of the terminal has already been constructed at Sambalpur with an investment

of Rs 86 crore and three others are coming up at Cuttack, Berhampur and Rourkela,…

The cumulative capacity of these projects would be 4800 Mw and the total investment is envisaged to be Rs 23203.52 crore.

With this, the total power generation projected in the state would increase to 31100 Mw from 26300 Mw earlier.The Orissa government has already inked MoUs with 21 IPPs with an aggregate generation capacity of 26,300 Mw earlier.

… Five companies who signed the MoU included BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd, Maa Durga Thermal Power Company Ltd and Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd.

JR Powergen Private Ltd would set up a 1980 Mw thermal power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul at an investment of Rs 7988 crore. BGR Energy Systems Ltd also plans to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Bhapur in Nayagarh district at an investment of Rs 6287 crore.

Similarly, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district entailing an investment of Rs 8079.74 crore. All these proposals were cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) chaired by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

On the other hand, Maa Durga Thermal Power would set up a 60 Mw ((2x30Mw) power plant at Tangi in Cuttack district, involving an investment of Rs 296.95 crore. Besides, Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd, planning to set up a 120 Mw power plant (IPP) at an investment of Rs 550 crore at Kesinga (Turla Khamar) in Kalahandi district.

The total land requirement for these projects have been assessed at 4360 acres and about 22,325 direct and indirect employment opportunities are expected to be created when these projects would be fully commissioned. Three projects namely BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would source water from the Mahanadi river system, Maa Durga Thermal Power would draw water from Birupa river.Vijaya Ferro and Power plans to source water from Tel river.

the government was likely to invite preliminary bids for the 4,000-MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa by April 30.

The request for qualification (RSQ) for the project may be issued by April 30.

This Bedabahal project would be the sixth UMPP project. The government has already awarded four UMPPs, of which three — Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand — have been bagged by Reliance Power.

As many as 1817 water bodies, mostly the minor irrigation projects (MIPs) in 20 districts of Orissa, would be revitalized under the Centrally sponsored scheme of Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies.

These water bodies would be revitalized within a period of three years at an estimated cost of Rs 595.14 crore.

The funding for these projects would be shared between the Government of India and the Orissa government in the ratio of 90:10 for the Maoist infested, drought prone and backward districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK).

For the other districts, the share between the Centre and the state government will be 25 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

While the design ayacut of all 1817 projects was 2, 48,545.86 hectares, the irrigation potential of an additional 89,110.02 hectares of land would be revived through these projects, sources said.

Most of these projects under the RRR scheme are being taken up in south Orissa’s Ganjam district. About 800 projects under the scheme are to be taken up in the district at a cost of Rs 250.87 crore.

Government of India is likely to set up a mega food park and a marine food park at Malipara near Khurda in Orissa with an area of 282 acres. This information was given by Subodh Kant Sahai, Union Minister for Food Processing while responding to a demand raised by Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa at the Orissa Investors meet 2010.

The Orissa government has urged the Centre to develop Digha-Talsari tourism circuit to attract more tourists to these locations. It is proposed to be developed in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.

Since the state government has already identified 700 acres of land for the project, the state has urged the Union ministry of tourism to initiate measure for the development of this circuit.

It figured in the discussion of the chief minister Naveen Patnaik with the visiting Union minister of state for tourism, Sultan Ahmad in the state secretariat today.

Ahmad is reported to have agreed to provide Central support for the international convention centre being planned in Bhubaneswar.

“The chief minister has proposed the setting up an international convention centre to attract tourists to Orissa. We will consider the proposal”, Ahmad told the media after meeting Patnaik.

… On the extension of the ‘Maharaja Express Classical India’ train to Bhubaneswar, the minister said, the ministry would consider and hold discussion on it after the state government sends its proposal.

… Since the existing packaging of the train is for 12 days and 11 nights, it can come from Delhi via Bodhgaya-Kolkata to Bhubaneswar by extending the package to 12 days and 12 nights.

Similarly, the state government has sought the conversion of the status of Food Craft Institute at Bolangir into an Indian Institute of Health Hotel Management (IIHM). The state government would provide additional land for it. Besides, the government has also urged the Centre to set up a IIHM at Rourkela, Mishra added.

Emami Group company Emami Paper Mills (EPM) on Friday said it will invest around Rs 500 crore to double its newsprint production capacity to 3 lakh tonnes per year in the next two and half years.

… "We will invest around Rs 500 crore on increasing the production capacity of our plant in Orissa. After the expansion, we will double the capacity to 3 lakh tonnes a year," Emami Group Director Aditya Agarwal said.

EPM has two plants in Orissa and West Bengal with a total production capacity of 1.5 lakh tonnes of newsprint per annum.

Agarwal said the firm will start a new line to hike production at its Orissa plant and will mainly be used for recycling papers.